Discovering Ancient Oak Trees in Toronto, Ontario

This weekend we went on a historic walk. We went to the historic village of Swansea which is more than 300 years old. This village was completely surrounded by the city of Toronto, and by 1967, had been amalgamated.

As far back as 1615, indigenous peoples and settlers have been using this area for travel. Etienne Brule, walked the Toronto Carrying Trail and stayed at the native encampments at the Humber River. By 1793, this area was declared a mill reserve so that the forests could remain intact for the use of the King’s sawmills. This area was unused and eventually was turned into parks and house lots.

It was this rich historic area that we explored in hopes of finding some of the ancient white, red and black oaks. It took a bit of sleuthing since it is old residential area with many of these ancient trees residing in backyards and private property.

marion@beesweetnature.ca

<p>Marion has always had a love for native plants. When she realized native Ontario plants were starting to go extinct, she started collecting their seeds and growing new trees in their family tree nursery, in essence, saving the plant species.</p>